http://www.care2.com/greenliving/groovy-green-greeting-cards.html
Groovy Green Greeting Cards
By Kim Master and the Care2 staff.
Consider these creative alternatives to conventional greeting cards that both you and the environment can appreciate. (The ideas are ordered from the least effort to the most effort.)
* Send E-Cards. Care2 offers a gigantic directory of options, and you will not waste a single tree.
* Send 100 percent recycled paper or tree-free cards made by environmental organizations like Defenders of Wildlife.
* Glue pictures from old cards onto homemade or store-bought recycled paper to create new cards.
* Glue pretty paper on the inside of old cards to cover previous writing–and send them again.
Make Beautiful Recycled Paper Out of Paper Shreds
Step 1: Cut junk mail into small shreds, soak it in warm water for about 2 hours, and blend it in a blender.
Step 2: Add small quantities of flowers, grass, and leaves for fun, color, and texture.
Step3: Spread it out on a flat, fine-holed, wire-mesh screen—use a rolling pin to flatten it.
Step 4: Smear a tablespoon of cornstarch over the paper to increase its strength.
Step 5: When it dries, you can use this paper as stationary, to decorate used boxes, or even to make holiday cards. (For an even prettier look, glue dried flowers on top of the paper.)
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add your comment »These are all great ideas! If you don't have time, though, Write Hook.com is a newly launched greeting card company to check out! All cards are FSC certified and are made from 100% post consumer recycled paper (as are their envelopes) using wind powered energy, and printed using vegetable-based inks. A customer can create and customize a card from the comfort of his/her computer and then that card is mailed directly to a recipient or to the purchaser. Five cents from every card purchased is donated to designated non-profits from which the customer can choose. Write Hook combines original photography and graphic design with sentiments and prose that create a witty, unique and fresh twist on the traditional genre of greeting cards. Write Hook has created what they call a “Half-Note” - a flat card that uses half the amount of paper as a traditional greeting card but still has all of the art, message, and impact of a traditional greet. All art and the majority of copy is original to Write Hook. And with Write Hook, a customer can upload/create an address book, set up email reminders for dates, and create cards up to a year in advance and choose future mail out dates. Write Hook is able to do business to business as well. The company was started by two Milwaukee women who wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people and in the community at large. As a busy parent/professional who cares about our environment, Write Hook is a brilliant and is fun to use too.
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I also take old playing cards from incomplete decks; cut decorative edges and use them for gift tags.
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Lovely idea and use of junk mail. i had been looking online for which craft shops sell papermaking kits only the other day. Can 't wait to add the flowers to the paper and see the results. Does anyone have any they have already made they can show?
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Wow, this is the first time I've been here. This Green Living thing is pretty cool.
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Cool an easy sounding recipe.
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I will definately try that recipe for paper. I use acid free and handmade scraps of paper along with pressed flowers and make my own cards, inside I make like a little booklet and write a poem that suits the picture I have drawn. So far the few that I have sent (they take a while to make) have been received with Joy. Its satisfying to make too, you feel like you are giving someone much more than just a card...
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Great ideas!Passing this on to all my friends.
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i fancy these ideas
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I love the thought of making my own paper out of the tons of junk mail paper I get each year. I can't wait to make some paper of my own for that texture, personal touch!
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Thanx for these great ideas. My children used to make these enviromental homemade cards years ago out of flowers and bits of plants.
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